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The Name of the Wind
- The Kingkiller Chronicle, Book 1
- Narrated by: Rupert Degas
- Length: 28 hrs and 3 mins
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Summary
In The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss brings together elements from all the great fantasy writers, from George R. R. Martin to Robert Jordan, to create a thrilling and intricately spun story that will leave you breathless.
I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the university at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.
My name is Kvothe. You may have heard of me.
So begins the tale of Kvothe - currently known as Kote, the unassuming innkeeper - from his childhood in a troupe of travelling players, through his years spent as a near feral orphan in a crime riddled city, to his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a difficult and dangerous school of magic.
In these pages you will come to know Kvothe the notorious magician, the accomplished thief, the masterful musician, the dragon-slayer, the legend hunter, the lover, the thief and the infamous assassin.
The Name of the Wind is fantasy at its very best.
Read by Rupert Degas.
Please note this is now the entire audio of this book.
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What listeners say about The Name of the Wind
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Overall
- Robyn
- 31-01-13
Excellent!
For some reason, I delayed listening to this. Now that I have started, I can't stop! (Am currently downloading part 2 of the Wise Man's Fear - the second book is just as good as the first!). Thoroughly enjoying this series....
First - Rupert Degas' narration is masterful. One of the best I've heard (and I have listended to close on 70 audio books in the last 2 years).
As for the story - just the right mix of drama, comedy, magic and general entertainment. The characters are well developed, and the story moves along at a cracking pace, and it's seldom predictable.
If you enjoyed Game of Thrones, or any of Brandon Sanderson's books, this is another one worth spending a few hours with. Patrick Rothfuss is a great story teller.
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94 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Lynx
- 22-04-12
Wonderful
This book made me laugh and made me cry - and that is as great a compliment as I can make.The story is certainly good in its gender, main character well developped, style pleasant and not hard to follow - and the narration is beautifully done. I think hearing it might be actually even better then reading.... It had me hooked and addicted, and I'm looking forward to continuing the story!
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80 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 27-05-17
Very entertaining but strangely flat
People rave about this but I thought it was simply enjoyable. Kvothe is constantly getting into and out of trouble with little actual development, he levels up as a matter of course - Degas background in RPG shines through in this and other respects. And maybe this is a perennial problem in this genre (though I felt less bothered by it when reading Robin Hobb) but the women (all beautiful, as we are told in florid prose) in the story really are only there as a mirror for Kvothe's tortured perfection (for him to love, rescue, teach, nurture, protect but never to rival or befriend or to offer instruction that is for the men). The love affair is interesting but a bit repetitive and the rather base relationship between the genders is slightly excused by the 15 year old boy's perspective that we are offered. I am dwelling on this aspect of because it takes up a lot of the story and felt tedious at times, and as Bast puts it the stories you tell construct the world you occupy.
The world building is grand, and I love the blur between story, legend, religion, history and other worlds. There are great parts with stories being told from several of these perspectives. In all it took me a while to start enjoying it and get over Kvothe's interminable descriptions of his own prowess, and telling us we could never really understand x y or z and you don't really get a sense of what Kvothe is famous for and what big dangers lurk in the story to come but in the end I feel fairly compelled and will probably get the second part... probably.
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60 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Amazon Customer
- 27-03-12
Fantastic
This book is absolutely wonderful and is even worth having to buy the book in two separate parts. It's beautifully written, absorbing, exciting and compulsive listening. It transports you convincingly into another world. One of the very best books I've read or listened to in the last five years. I highly recommend it. The narration is also very good and adds to the story. I can't wait for the next book to become available on audiobook. I love it so much I will buy it in addition to the paperback version.
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57 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Tara Mcgrath
- 13-05-12
Outstanding Narration
I wasn't sure to start with whether I was going to enjoy this audiobook but a few hours in and I was hooked. Rupert Degas deserves so much praise for the narration of the book, he truly is one of the best narrators I have listened to- his ability to switch between a number of characters and the variety of accents is unbelievable. He really understands the characters and has made this series of books for me the most enjoyable part of my day - I spend 3 hrs in the car each day so this is a welcome distraction.
Fantastic writing as well, I'm about to finish the second book and am looking forward to the next installment.
If you loved Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell for it's magic and excellent narration then you will love this even more.
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49 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Jill
- 04-06-12
Fantastic book and narration
Be warned - once you start listening to this book you are going to lose days of your life listening fanatically, so make sure you start at a convenient moment! As already mentioned, the fantastic narration by Rupert Degas adds another dimension - he goes from one character voice to another without missing a beat - truly impressive. I have just finished both parts of this first book and was delighted to see the second book waiting for me when I came to look today - can't wait to dive back in again!
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48 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Edwina
- 08-04-12
One of the best...
One of the best listens I have downloaded on audible. The story is a real page-turner and thoroughly enjoyable throughout.
If you have enjoyed this book I also recommend “The Lies of Locke Lamora” by Scott Lynch which is almost as good!
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45 people found this helpful
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- Matt
- 10-08-15
My original weariness was unfounded, brilliant!
If you could sum up The Name of the Wind (Part One) in three words, what would they be?
Brilliantly narrated story
What did you like best about this story?
Despite being a complete know-it-all, you almost instantly like Kvothe (main character)
What about Rupert Degas’s performance did you like?
A terrific range of voices and accents makes characters come alive in your imagination. I have abandoned books before when I have had issues with the narration. In this case I must put Rupert Degas up there with Stephen Briggs as the best in this genre.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No. I never listen to books in one sitting. But I completed this in a matter of days.
Any additional comments?
I was originally very wary of this book. The "if you like Game of Thrones you'll love this" blurb, plus the strapline of the book "I have killed kings blah blah blah" really did not appeal to me. But that didn't matter one bit. Such a well written and well read story, it instantly draws you in. I rarely write reviews but this book is such a joy I would be remiss not to pass that information on. I am now using my remaining credits to continue through the series.
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25 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Liam
- 20-05-12
Totally Amazing!
I was enticed by the title and the sample. I read the review "One of the best..." By Edwina (Stowmarket, United Kingdom) Apr 8, 2012. ( and The Lies of Locke Lamora is my favourite book of all time). The review confirm my decision to spend my precious credit on The Name of the Wind (Part One). I haven't regretted a single moment and I have enjoyed every second! totally enthralling story and amazing narration by Rupert Degas. If you were to ask me whats my favourite book of all time,i now wouldn't know what to say. my only advice would try it yourself and then ask your self the same question.
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25 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Michael
- 05-12-12
Mike
Good:
Good Narrator
Sections are quite well told
The opening sections are interesting.
Bad:
Terrible central character
Far too long
Tedious, stereotypical storytelling past the opening
I was recomended this highly so I decided to take a look.
The book starts off quite well, the characters are intruiging, there's a nice central mystery and it's reasonably well told.
Unfortunately, the book then flashes back to the early childhood of one of the characters and it turns into one of the most cliched things I've ever encountered. It transpires that the main character is a young man who is perfect in every way. He's amazing at acting, music, science, magic, he's an acomplished pick pocket and orator. Every section of the book hammers home how amazing this character is with the subtlety of a machette., He constantly encounters strangers who he doesn't expect to help him out but they do because he's so completely amazing.
This character has no flaws or defining characteristics other than the fact that he's completely amazing at everything.
I would find this annoying but tollerable if the book had a good story. It's not, though. Whilst sections of it are quite interesting, the book is so long and so ponderous it squandors any good will I felt after any individual section. Every facet of this characters past is gone into in nauseating detail.
This peaks when the character goes to university, where the character continues to be amazing at everything (naturally) but is consistantly thwarted by other characters who are so stereotypically evil it becomes slightly comical.
I gave up reading around chapter 45 as the story still hadn't found its feet and wasn't showing any real signs of mystery or intruige.
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21 people found this helpful
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- Richard
- 13-08-15
Amazing half a book...
Patrick Rothfuss is a out and out genius. His writing is poetic yet accurate and builds a engrossing world. It is such a let down that such a great read cannot be finished. I have listened to the slow regard for silent things, and the first half of his second book. But for some reason the second part of both books are not available in Africa. I know that Africa is a backwards continent but at least do us the decency to finish a great story. This Internet is slow enough already......
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21 people found this helpful
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- Niall
- 10-04-13
One of the best books I have ever listened to
What did you love best about The Name of the Wind (Part One)?
Great story, engaging characters, this is a book that will hold your attention from cover to cover or you will find reasons to take a very long drive just to hear more.
What about Rupert Degas’s performance did you like?
Excellent and believable performance brings the story to life
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10 people found this helpful
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- Niall
- 20-12-17
Totally overrated story
in spite of all the rave reviews of this book, i found this story slow, directionless, and at times down right boring. i should have read all the reviews that complained about the lack of an underlying plot to this story before wasting 29 hours listening to this.
no i will not reading the 2nd book, and as for third ... who cares?
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5 people found this helpful
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- Paora & Natalie
- 27-03-12
Amaising Book, Amaising Performance
What did you love best about The Name of the Wind (Part One)?
First and foremost I have to comment that the performance that Rupert Degas gave in this book was absolutely stunning. He truly gave life to the characters. Even though I read the accents as different when reading the paper version, Rupert takes his impression of the characters to hights and actually fills the characters with more life than my imagination did. Nice One Mate
What did you like best about this story?
This story was truly new and distinct for me. As one that has been mired in classic Tolkien style fantasy since childhood Patrick Rothfuss has given me a vivid new world to lose myself in.
Though the story in the first book doesn't try to paint a huge amount of detail about the world you do get a clear indication of the time and technology of the setting. What Patrick does do is give a wonderful interplay between characters that are both believable and unique. The book is very character centric ,as you would expect from a book written mainly in the first person, but it is the quality that the characters are realised that makes this book truly a work of art. I can't wait for the next book. (*looks sternly at the publishing company for not releasing it sooner >8 | )
The only problem I had with the book (and let me say this is the moan of a person that wants more than is good for him) is that it finished too soon. Like one of those batman tv shows that stops just as things get really intense. I know its not a good reason to give the story 4 stars instead of 5, but since the next book in the series is not available in australia we can all just blame the publisher ;)
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4 people found this helpful
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- Rosemary
- 23-06-18
Casually sexist throughout
This book is almost great but as much as I tried to ignore the casual sexism in it, I could not. Every single female character is described first and foremost in terms of their desirability to make characters. There is an inordinate amount of hair flicking and sweet smiles. Occasionally he tries to make them a bit badass but even these instances read more as an man's erotic fantasy of a 'strong' woman then as a genuine attempt to write a cool character who also happens to be a woman. This was really disappointing because this is otherwise a great story. I just felt too alienated as a woman. I'm not going to try the second book as apparently it gets even worse (I Googled after I finished reading it to see if anyone else had commented on its sexism, they have).
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3 people found this helpful
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- A. S.
- 18-05-20
One of the best book v narrator combos
Every year or so, I reread this book and its sequel - that should tell you how amazing it is.
Rupert Degas is one of the most talented narrators I've ever listened to - the sheer depth and breadth of his characters, leaves me astounded every time I pick up these books
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2 people found this helpful
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- Michael Bereslavsky
- 03-05-19
teenage heroic fantasy adventure novel
good writing and performance, but I want my 28 hours back! it's much longer than it should be, and the ending is meant to entice the reader to buy the next book, which is even longer.
The book does a surprisingly good job at introducing that world of strange magic, and explaining its source, which even makes sense to some degree. The characters, however could use more depth. Overall a captivating read, but leaves some things to be desired.
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- Ben Vella
- 27-04-19
Not quite 5 stars
While well written, book is a bit slow in parts and the adventures become repetitive. Reading is good.
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- Gareth Smith
- 08-08-18
Dont start until he bothers to finish - he wont
Honestly Patrick Rothfuss has done a great job on these two books ... but it has taken many many years and all he has done is ride the celeb status doing interviews and seemingly mucking about. Don't even bother starting this book until he gets himself together and finishes the series or you will be left hanging and feeling as annoyed as I do.
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- Ishaan
- 25-03-15
What a sob story!
Kvoth the lead character insists in the beginning that he doesn't need or want pity. Then why does the writer makes us feel pity for him all throughout part 1?
Frankly speaking, Kvoth needs a dose of humour. I would recommend Brandon Sanderson's mistborn series than this.
And why is this sob story in two parts? It's like paying for something twice. Makes you feel cheated for a book which really isn't worth it.
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